Pipeline divides PM’s youth council
Fissures have appeared inside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s youth council after a group of current and former members publicly urged the Liberal government to reverse its decision to buy Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline.
The request was made in a letter to the prime minister signed by 16 past and present members of the council and released to the public on Monday, in which signatories expressed “our immense disappointment” with the planned $4.5-billion pipeline purchase.
“The decision to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline project calls into question your commitment to young Canadians,” the letter reads, adding that youth will be “disproportionately affected” by climate change.
Yet the letter has generated surprise and frustration inside the council, with other members saying they do not agree with its position and at least one expressing concern that it became public.
“I thought it was very partisan and that is not the role of the prime minister’s youth council,” said council member Sara Wheale, who has worked for more than seven years in Alberta’s oil industry.
The Liberals’ plan to purchase the Trans Mountain pipeline has been a political hot potato since it was announced in May amid fierce opposition from the B.C. government, environmental groups and Indigenous communities. The prime minister sat down in June to talk about the Trans Mountain purchase with the youth council, which was established in 2016 as a non-partisan advisory board of up to 30 young Canadians between the ages of 16 and 24.
Nmesoma Nweze, a neuroscience and psychology student at the University of Toronto and council alumna, said some members were disappointed by the lack of consultation before the decision given that Trudeau’s meeting came after the deal had been announced. That is when she started to draft the letter, which says many young Canadians supported Trudeau during the 2015 federal election because of his promises on reconciliation and climate leadership, and that he subsequently promised to listen to — and honour — the concerns of young people.
Nweze defended the release of the letter, saying the council wants to start doing more outreach and “we know we’re not the only young people who feel this way.”
But Wheale took issue with some members using their roles on the advisory council to publicly advance their positions on such a politically sensitive issue, and worried about the long-term impacts for the board as well as her own career.
“The way the letter is being presented, it’s being presented on behalf of the youth council,” she said. “And there are other people on the youth council, either alumni or current members, who work in the oil and gas industry as well. And it’s very concerning as to what sort of impact this is going to have on our careers.”